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GA COMIC BOOK Collecting in the Financial crisis of 2020
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908 posts in this topic

7 hours ago, Mmehdy said:

GA/SA Comic book market update:

1- Doomsday Chuck

2-Federal Reserve warning

3-LA shutdown thru August and beyond.

 

 1- Every board member should give a read to Mile High Comics latest new letter, dated MAY 11, Just click on website to latest newsletter. Chuck should renamed Mr. Doom after reading his analysis of the current comic book market and its future. I am not saying that Chuck is 100% wrong here, but wow if he right there will be significant comic book GA/SA market price reductions which at this point has nor been contemplated on this thread.  First he makes the point that we are merely at that tip of the iceberg in terms of living the effects of this virus economically. He feels that a large number of comic book stores will go out or business, file for bankruptcy, exceeding 50% or more of the existing stores. That will in turn  decrease the demand for new product such to the point it will be financially unsound to publish  new comics books for any profit in the future. He indicated that new publishing market was at the "mature" stage on decline on demand and I agree we will never get to that level of circulation again. He believes that the existing comic book stores are Diamond Dependant for survival on new material to bring in customers and generate sales to support keeping open the stores. That he stores being dependent on a single distributor is a market weakness. New material for June will be vary scarce which will make it even more difficult for existing stores to survive. Without new material, future demand for all comic book related items will be impacted. Less stores, less collectors, less demand means over time  a smaller comic book world for everyone.

 My take is this, he speaks some truth and he has been around for many years both as a collector and dealers. Now some of you can disagree with his price structure and I am one of them. But his opinion matters, this man is on the front lines and he has spoken, and we like E.F. Hutton need to listen. We do not  have to agree, but we be looking at very foundational changes in very near future which will impact  our Ga/SA comic book collector's future. Give it a read and let me know what your opinion is. It would be welcome and appreciated.

2-Federal Reserve warning, I can remember just before 2008 real estate crash, when Federal Reserve chairman  Alan Greenspan said real estate was not sustainable in terms of price growth and everybody was saying don't listen to him. He was right. Everybody needs to read, understand, and listen to this Federal Reserve Chairman's warning today..the stock market did and  declined  over 500 points today. Bottom line, we need more money printed and given to business NOW especially comic book stores..or we suffer a long term economic depression/recession. This will impact future GA/SA prices for the next 5 years. We need to get this right.

3-LA shutdown and beyond: image you are a comic book store with no income for 3 more months...different rules in our country now, but man....when and if they fully reopen...please support them or contact them and attempt to buy some of their GA/SA with current market conditions taking into account. SO SO-CAL board members especially make it a point to try to get to the stores once they reopen fully.

 PS..Lou will respond to your  post tomorrow.

 

It's hard to put a number on how many will close. I know the two shops I'm fairly friendly with are struggling and I've been trying to buy books to help them out. 

I will say, online sales may provide a little life line.  I know my old shop spent days listing all their SA books on Ebay. I'm not sure how sales went, but I did pick up a few to help out. 

There is no doubt the economy is facing a painful path forward.  

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9 hours ago, Mmehdy said:

New material for June will be vary scarce which will make it even more difficult for existing stores to survive. Without new material, future demand for all comic book related items will be impacted. Less stores, less collectors, less demand means over time  a smaller comic book world for everyone.

 

I haven't been to a comic book shop this century; the local ones simply don't carry pre Silver age fare.  "New material" doesn't affect me whatsoever, as cover dates later than February, 1955, are not in my collecting world.  That said, I've been buying off the internet, and will continue to do so.  I doubt this virus situation will impact my addiction at all.  PCH is still red hot.

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2 hours ago, bluechip said:

The virtual shutdown of comics publishing would not be happening if comics were readily available at grocery and drug stores and via subscription, the way they once were.   The focus on comics-only stores, coupled with the notion that new books are desirable only if they are slabbable, has put the (new) comics business susceptible to a quarantine, whereas in olden times comics they would be one of the sectors that would withstand it, even flourish, with people buying them mostly to read (instead of mostly to keep pristine and resell).

I can only assume the rationale behind putting comics shops way down the list of who-gets-to-reopen-next is that books are one type of consumer product that is more likely, on average, to be handled by customers and put back on the shelf.  

Maybe the comics business might increase its chances of climbing up from where it is (phase 3?  4?) to phase 2 or so, by initiating an industry set of guidelines for comics stores -- perhaps mandating not only masks inside the store but gloves and/or use of hand sanitizer open entering and exiting.    

Comics would also sell better if they were 64 pages for a dime, the way they once were. 

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On 5/12/2020 at 5:56 PM, lou_fine said:

 

Hey Mitch;

Hate to be the bearer of bad news here, but I believe that the boss's analysis of what happen here is actually much closer to hitting the target:

I really don't believe that it's a case of the CGC grading system relaxing over time, but rather that the CGC grading system has made subtle, but very very highly significant changes from when they first opened their doors way back in 2000.  Unfortunately, it's all to do with something that I call the "business" of grading.  :gossip:

If I am correct, I believe this particular File Copy of Crackajack Funnies (CF) 9 came out from a collection held by a private collector in Livonia, Michigan.  I remember responding to a very small ad in the CBG way back in the late 80's or very early 90's from a retired comic book dealer who was in the process of selling off some books for this private collector since he have dealt with this dealer in the past before.  I took a shot and was surprised that the books were still available and ended up with Poughkeepsie File Copies for a few of these Crackajack Funnies and some of the very early Four Color books.  When they arrived in the mail, I was astounded at their overall condition and freshness, considering that they were bordering on being 50 years old at the time.  They were definitely close to, if not equivalent to some of the cheaper pristine Church books which I had acquired to that point in time.  :cloud9:

Anyways, I called the dealer back right away to ask him if he had any more of these books available and I remember specifically mentioning the CF 9 since I was no dummy and realize this was the first comic book appearance for Red Ryder and for some odd reason, was still priced lower than Red Ryder #1 in the guide.  Couldn't hurt since the dealer sold the first set to me at a huge discount to guide since I had brought quite a few and that was how pricing was back in those days for these types of books.  He responded that the collector did indeed have more of these Poughkeepsie File Copy books in his private collection, including the Crackajack Funnies which he was planning to sell off.  Since he felt pretty confident that the CF 9 was somewhere in there, he said that he would be sure to give me a call once he got these books in.  About 6 months later while perusing the latest copy of the CBG, I noticed another ad from the same dealer with more of these Poughkeepsie file copies, this time including the CF 9 which I had been looking for.  Called the dealer right away only to find out that this time, all of the books were already sold and that he had intended to give me a call, but had apparently misplaced my phone number.  :frustrated:  :censored:

Fast forward to 2000 when CGC were first opening their doors and I decided to toss in about 12 to 15 books to test the grading and to see how they would do in the upcoming big Greg Manning Auction taking place later that year.  Must have been old school grading from the pre-CGC days as they all came back with grades from CGC 9.2 to CGC 9.6 with both of the Poughkeepsie File Copy books, including a CF 21 and one of the Four Colors coming back as CGC 9.6 graded copies.  I call it old school grading because when I look at the scans for the few remaining Poughkeepsie file copies which I still have, they look like the CF 9 above, but when I hold the actual books themselves up only at a certain angle to the light, I can see a few tiny barely perceptible non-color breaking ticks along the spine.  My bet is that File Copy of CF 9 from above would most probably have graded out as a CGC 9.4 or CGC 9.6 if it had been graded back in 2000 when CGC first started up using the standards in place at the time.  My thinking is that when Heritage came onto the scene with their overlapping and intertwining ownership of CCG in 2002, they used their prior experience from the other collectibles field to subtley fine-tune the undisclosed grading standards over time to specifically target what I would call "additional revenue generating defects".  This of course was most probably part of their longer term business agenda right from the get go and done to eventually generate resubmits and additional streams of revenue from the same book in order to boost both their top and bottom lines, which any successful corporation should be seeking to do.  hm  :wink:

If you take a look at the serial number for the CGC 9.0 graded copy of CF 9 above, it's interesting to note that it's from August of 2004 which was about a year before the collecting public would discover what was happening behind the scenes with CGC and their so-called "maximization of potential" that certain people in the know had been using to their financial benefit at the expense of an unsuspecting marketplace.  As a result, it's no real surprise to me that the book would come back in a substantially higher grade as long as you understood the undisclosed rules of the CGC game and were willing to pay the additional dues to play it their way.  :devil:

So, if you really think that you can't lose by resubmitting a HG GA book that had been graded from before CGC started to *ahem*, shall we say "fine-tune" their undisclosed grading standards, then you should probably think again.  My bet is that if you had a GA book previously slabbed as a uber HG 9.4 or 9.6 grade, although the PQ will most likely be higher upon a straight resub, the grade will more than likely drop down instead of going up due to your thinking that CGC's grading system is more relaxed as compared to their first year or plus of operations.  And I guarantee you that the grade will drop substantially if you dare to resub a book in with those sacrilegious nearly non-perceptible tiny spine ticks because you would now clearly be in violation of not playing the grading game by their undisclosed rules.  hm  :makepoint:

Just my personal take on this particular situation here, but who's to say who's really correct in their analysis of what took place with this specific upgrade here.  (shrug)

 

Good point Lou. However, if you had a early graded book say 2005/6 you could upgrade with the new pressing and other allowed restoration just like the A1 which I think went from 8.5 or 8.0 to 9.0 and over 3 million dollars. So at worst you could off-set the changes the CGC makes over the years with 2020 permissible upgrades.. Those changes are acceptable to me provided that it does not dilute the meaning of a blue label. I believe  the more upfront CGC is with its grading standards, the more stable the GA/SA market can become. The ability to buy a GA/SA book by a flipper or grade pumper will be decreased by the fact we are entering a downward GA/SA comic book market for quite some time. So even if the flipper buys a 8.5 and make it a 9.0 the decrease in price over the time to steroid it and regrade it could make any potential profit go away.

 I do not believe any board member cannot deny we at just the very early start of a series of economic Domino's . People  tend to deal only with the issue squarely in front them and do not look at chess moves down the line, Lou, but these flippers are gonna get the message eventually and hopefully leave our Ga/SA comic book world to the real collectors, who love GA books for what they are, not widgets. I think the word is out Lou, that government reports have concluded that the pandemic will last 18 months or longer and could include multiple waves of illness. The first immediate effect of this crisis has been 25% unemployment, this turn will cause a decrease in spending and defaults on  payments . So, the second domino will be big and little Bankruptcies as result of this and we just beginning to see. That in turn will effect the stock and credit markets which will tighten and thus the third domino. Once the credit markets tighten, real estate prices will decline similar to 2008, state governments and pension plans are gonna take a hit and need BIG bailouts. So we are far from out this and it is going to be very interesting from here on out. If anybody does not think that GA/SA prices are not gonna to be part of the decline it seems reality will probably change their mind. The real issue before us is deep recession or depression The difference between the two  is easy...a depression last longer...our last real depression lasted 10 years 1929-1939. This could greatly decrease purchases of GA/SA comic books for pure speculation or profit and thus diminish artificial demand and make out GA/SA prices more staple and real in terms of true comic book collector demand and value. But I believe Lou, that this could trickle down to the jack up grading which seems to be the rage, especially on high profile mega Ga/SA keys. The economic reward is not going to be as big in a overall long term declining Ga/SA comic book market. maybe sanity will come back to us.

I do not doubt that in any Ga/SA purchase, upgrading it must be considered, but I believe that should be considered if you intent to hold the book long term, say 5 years or more given the present conditions. Your take?

 

Edited by Mmehdy
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Moreover we now see the start of the cold war between China and the US (and the rest of the west will follow soon). The divorce happens and will last at least as long as the CCP is in charge. That means a lot of structures from the west to china will be cut off and rebuild. 

Manufacturing and Jobs will return to the west. In the long run that will be beneficial. But only years after "Corona". The USA imo have the best position of all countries. US Dollar rules. China has to import food and oil and dollars. The middle east breaks down bc of the oil price decrease. Russia struggles to stay above the water. The EU is in dire straits, crumbles.

So first a crisis lasting at least (chances are it will last a couple of years) a year starting to show in autuum. GA prices will soften. Then a recovery. If the demographic of GA collectors doesnt wane too much prices should recover bc when manufacturing and jobs return buying power will. In the last decades the wealth of the masses of americans has been hollowed out due to the marriage with china. If this ends now the tide will turn. 

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4 hours ago, GermanFan said:

Moreover we now see the start of the cold war between China and the US (and the rest of the west will follow soon). The divorce happens and will last at least as long as the CCP is in charge. That means a lot of structures from the west to china will be cut off and rebuild. 

Manufacturing and Jobs will return to the west. In the long run that will be beneficial. But only years after "Corona". The USA imo have the best position of all countries. US Dollar rules. China has to import food and oil and dollars. The middle east breaks down bc of the oil price decrease. Russia struggles to stay above the water. The EU is in dire straits, crumbles.

So first a crisis lasting at least (chances are it will last a couple of years) a year starting to show in autuum. GA prices will soften. Then a recovery. If the demographic of GA collectors doesnt wane too much prices should recover bc when manufacturing and jobs return buying power will. In the last decades the wealth of the masses of americans has been hollowed out due to thits marriage with china. If this ends now the tide will turn. 

Interesting comments GermanFan. While we have no cure for this virus every county is weak...so adding a trade war just compounds its real effects that much more. Manufacturing jobs returning is gonna time and $$ and that in the long term is a solution for USA stability but the real issue is do we have the juice to do it during a contraction period. That is why we are in reality in a depression, its just 95% of the people do not accept it yet. I would say we would have to be extremely lucky and get that cure this year, even to have the same recovery time period of the 2008 financial crisis. The damage tested our banking system and tanked our real estate market, but that is nothing compared to a total shut-down we are still gong thru. The EU was in dire straits before this virus with Italy, Greece and dead in the water with overloaded debt. There is a real possibly that they will be the first to go bankrupt and then the domino's start falling with governments. At some point the EU was dead anyway....lets hope it can stay together thru this virus crisis or this depression can last even longer than anyone has considered.

 I agree 100% Ga prices will soften, so will other collectible with possible exception of "bulk" gold collectible coins. If GA prices, however have to wait till manufacturing jobs return...that is gonna be a very long time and I just cannot agree with that timeline of GA/SA price recovery as I think the decline will move slowly over unless another world event compounds our economic retraction even faster and deeper.

I do not know if this marriage with China is over, but at least it is being reexamined more carefully now than it has in the past. I think because of this virus all nations are in this together. It would be nice to see America strong again but I think we just need to recover first. After that recovery, GA/SA prices will follow.

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8 hours ago, Ryan. said:

So am I supposed to be buying or selling right now? 

SHORT ANSWER: You should be doing both carefully.

 

LONG ANSWER:

 SELL: You should sell asap prior to a greater future price decline any duplicates, books you no longer care about, any CGC restored or  CGC low grade books, especially with tape, detached centerfolds, rusty staples and other condition defects.

 I would not buy any ungraded GA/SA comic book at this time, and if you do, limit that purchase to under $100 and be prepared for a drastic price drop so build it in the purchase price. ( 10 cents on the dollar or less).

 

 BUY:  With the sales money you raised you should  purchase upgraded  GA/SA comic books either condition wise or book wise. I would limit my buying to CGC graded unrestored books with no significant defects. In other words TRADE UP. If you buy now, only do so for the books you intend to keep in your collection for at least the next fives years and make sure the price you pay is reflective of the uncertain future market conditions...a discount. Otherwise wait and hold on to the money and see where the market goes.

 

TIMING: That is the real issue here to maximize you Ga/SA dollars. Look for very significant price reductions in GA/SA non- key but every expensive  $2K and over comic books once the full effects of this economic downturn play out. You can wait and get more bang for buck, in 6 months, and even a bigger bank after one year. I would not target the absolute bottom of this upcoming Ga/SA comic book market as your initial buying point as most likely it would have passed before you and everyone else know about it.  These discounts will be once in a lifetime so chose you targets carefully and don't just buy something because  it is a "good deal" . Still to you GA/SA collecting plan...make you collection better. The timing issue is how long do you plan on keeping your newly bought Ga/SA comic books. The earlier you buy now, the longer you are gonna have to hold to break even on your purchase. Now an exception would be purchases of material at 50 cents or less on the dollar and even then we cannot predict how long and deep this economic crisis will last...my best guess is that the negative effects will last for years to come. I disagree with the Mile High Comic book newsletter than states we will never get back to where we were a few months ago. I think it is gonna take work and time,and hopefully a little bit of luck to put some type of possible plausible ending out there.I can only tell you what I and few other original comic books collectors from the 70's(  who are not on the board ) are doing. We are getting together our wants lists and waiting for as long as it takes to get to the near bottom of this upcoming market. We do not care if it hits the absolute bottom...we just want to be there when's it at 90%. As a buyer you control when and what you buy, if you are seller, you had better take timing into account if you cannot hold the book thru this unknown time of downturn. I would consider a safe time a 5 year period. What you do not want to be caught is is 2 years down the road, 40/605 value decrease in GA/SA market value and you have to sell.  Its simple, reevaluate your entire collection, place in one the books that you will never sell/at least for the next five years aside. Everything else is fair game. Make that super want list and get ready, it is gonna take awhile but it is gonna be worth the wait.

 

 

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On 5/13/2020 at 10:11 PM, Cat-Man_America said:

Comics would also sell better if they were 64 pages for a dime, the way they once were. 

If new comics would get rid of the slick paper and full color printing, returning to a pulp paper product (still with great art) they could actually be a few more pages and a lot less money to print.  If new comics sold for $1.25 today, I think a return to the supermarkets, convenience stores, and even Wal-mart could take place.  It would be extremely beneficial to the hobby, and in the long run the companies would make more than they do now with the expensive new comics.  The problem seems to be that the comic companies do not seem to know how to market this product anymore. 

According to the inflation calculator, a 12 cent comic from 1965 should cost 98 cents today.  What is the problem with doing it the old way again?

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13 minutes ago, Tri-ColorBrian said:

If new comics would get rid of the slick paper and full color printing, returning to a pulp paper product (still with great art) they could actually be a few more pages and a lot less money to print.  If new comics sold for $1.25 today, I think a return to the supermarkets, convenience stores, and even Wal-mart could take place.  It would be extremely beneficial to the hobby, and in the long run the companies would make more than they do now with the expensive new comics.  The problem seems to be that the comic companies do not seem to know how to market this product anymore. 

According to the inflation calculator, a 12 cent comic from 1965 should cost 98 cents today.  What is the problem with doing it the old way again?

Although the rise of the direct market had a large effect, I think that retailers (drug stores, grocery stores, etc.) realized that comics took up precious shelf space with very little profit.

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2 hours ago, Joe Ankenbauer said:

Although the rise of the direct market had a large effect, I think that retailers (drug stores, grocery stores, etc.) realized that comics took up precious shelf space with very little profit.

And I think that was because they didn't sell enough of them because they became too expensive for kids to buy...

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On 5/15/2020 at 12:18 PM, Mmehdy said:

LONG ANSWER:

 SELL: You should sell asap prior to a greater future price decline any any CGC restored or  CGC low grade books, especially with tape, detached centerfolds, rusty staples and other condition defects.

PM me if you want to sell any GA keys or Timelys in the above conditions.  

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2 hours ago, Knightsofold said:

PM me if you want to sell any GA keys or Timelys in the above conditions.  

Traded up a long long time ago Knightsfold. Condition was not a big issue, early on, since the GA comic books were so rare, you just bought everything that crossed your path. I remember buying Action #5 and I think #6  from Terry Stroud / David Alexander at the first Berkley Con..in the 70's at the time condition did was not a major issue to me and I did not care about condition it was the book not the grade and then it hit me condition was everything....and there were certain rules even then...No tape, no rusty staples and especially bad paper condition...no sale no matter what the book was, for my collection unless resale to get more money to trade up and that was back Mid 70"s. I proceeded to trade up at point and never look back.

 On another note Doomsday Chuck or Mile High Comics latest newsletter is a classic. I just spent two hour on his facebook interview which can link directly thru the laster newsletter. Some great info on comic book history, buying, and and the doomsday future of comic book shops. Worthwhile and you always skip some the parts that do not interest you. One interesting point I had not considered was the economic health of ATT/Disney on the impact of future of DC/Marvel comic book publishing if that business becomes unprofitable or is marginal. I agree with him the future of comic book publishing is not within our comic book worlds control but the corporate mangers of those companies and their debt structure and ability to pay it.   I also like the showdown with Chuck and Amazon as well as his take on Steve Geppi. There was a second interview I have not got a chance to see it. Interesting stuff

Edited by Mmehdy
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On 5/15/2020 at 12:18 PM, Mmehdy said:

SHORT ANSWER: You should be doing both carefully.

 

LONG ANSWER:

 SELL: You should sell asap prior to a greater future price decline any duplicates, books you no longer care about, any CGC restored or  CGC low grade books, especially with tape, detached centerfolds, rusty staples and other condition defects.

 I would not buy any ungraded GA/SA comic book at this time, and if you do, limit that purchase to under $100 and be prepared for a drastic price drop so build it in the purchase price. ( 10 cents on the dollar or less).

 

 BUY:  With the sales money you raised you should  purchase upgraded  GA/SA comic books either condition wise or book wise. I would limit my buying to CGC graded unrestored books with no significant defects. In other words TRADE UP. If you buy now, only do so for the books you intend to keep in your collection for at least the next fives years and make sure the price you pay is reflective of the uncertain future market conditions...a discount. Otherwise wait and hold on to the money and see where the market goes.

 

TIMING: That is the real issue here to maximize you Ga/SA dollars. Look for very significant price reductions in GA/SA non- key but every expensive  $2K and over comic books once the full effects of this economic downturn play out. You can wait and get more bang for buck, in 6 months, and even a bigger bank after one year. I would not target the absolute bottom of this upcoming Ga/SA comic book market as your initial buying point as most likely it would have passed before you and everyone else know about it.  These discounts will be once in a lifetime so chose you targets carefully and don't just buy something because  it is a "good deal" . Still to you GA/SA collecting plan...make you collection better. The timing issue is how long do you plan on keeping your newly bought Ga/SA comic books. The earlier you buy now, the longer you are gonna have to hold to break even on your purchase. Now an exception would be purchases of material at 50 cents or less on the dollar and even then we cannot predict how long and deep this economic crisis will last...my best guess is that the negative effects will last for years to come. I disagree with the Mile High Comic book newsletter than states we will never get back to where we were a few months ago. I think it is gonna take work and time,and hopefully a little bit of luck to put some type of possible plausible ending out there.I can only tell you what I and few other original comic books collectors from the 70's(  who are not on the board ) are doing. We are getting together our wants lists and waiting for as long as it takes to get to the near bottom of this upcoming market. We do not care if it hits the absolute bottom...we just want to be there when's it at 90%. As a buyer you control when and what you buy, if you are seller, you had better take timing into account if you cannot hold the book thru this unknown time of downturn. I would consider a safe time a 5 year period. What you do not want to be caught is is 2 years down the road, 40/605 value decrease in GA/SA market value and you have to sell.  Its simple, reevaluate your entire collection, place in one the books that you will never sell/at least for the next five years aside. Everything else is fair game. Make that super want list and get ready, it is gonna take awhile but it is gonna be worth the wait.

 

 

Google translate says:

"SELL stuff I don't collect and don't have.

BUY stuff like what I have."

 

 

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On 5/15/2020 at 12:49 PM, Tri-ColorBrian said:

If new comics would get rid of the slick paper and full color printing, returning to a pulp paper product (still with great art) they could actually be a few more pages and a lot less money to print.  If new comics sold for $1.25 today, I think a return to the supermarkets, convenience stores, and even Wal-mart could take place.  It would be extremely beneficial to the hobby, and in the long run the companies would make more than they do now with the expensive new comics.  The problem seems to be that the comic companies do not seem to know how to market this product anymore. 

According to the inflation calculator, a 12 cent comic from 1965 should cost 98 cents today.  What is the problem with doing it the old way again?

Comics are in the same sinking boat as the rest of the magazine publishing field in that very few younger people are interested in reading paper published products today. 
 

It’s like asking society to return to the great days of the vinyl album.
 

The concepts remain timely but the format delivery has moved on...

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2 hours ago, N e r V said:

Comics are in the same sinking boat as the rest of the magazine publishing field in that very few younger people are interested in reading paper published products today. 
 

It’s like asking society to return to the great days of the vinyl album.
 

The concepts remain timely but the format delivery has moved on...

Yeah, moved on to online articles that have a zillion grammatical errors in them.  Sometimes I wonder if anyone actually proofreads those articles.

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11 hours ago, N e r V said:

Comics are in the same sinking boat as the rest of the magazine publishing field in that very few younger people are interested in reading paper published products today. 
 

It’s like asking society to return to the great days of the vinyl album.
 

The concepts remain timely but the format delivery has moved on...

Trade paperbacks seem popular.

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16 hours ago, bluechip said:

Google translate says:

"SELL stuff I don't collect and don't have.

BUY stuff like what I have."

 

 

 This would be a better characterization 

Sell what I do not collect or don't have?

 Sell what you do not consider to be essential to your collection including duplicates, sell your lower grade replaceable GA/SA and be prepared to repurchase those in higher grade/better paper quality in the next one to three years especially if you can go from purple or ungraded to blue and especially if there are any major defects such as staples quality, tape, detached cover or centerfold or pieces missing from the cover, and low condition spine.  If you'd decide to purchase in the 3/6/12  months  then be prepared for those values to decrease in the next three years and you should plan on holding those books for a 5 year period without having to place them back on the market for sale. BC you can only sell the stuff you own and collect with a game plan to get it back bigger and better for the same or decreased price. Especially if you purchase at the near bottom 90%. You just need to have priority over what you sell, and you sell the weakest part of your collection condition wise as you would have a better chance to obtain a equal or better conditioned copy at a substantially reduced price. I am not saying, sell your unique Action #1 at 9.8 here. I am saying even if the book is not one of those you should be to buy  there will be plenty ofcomparable GA/SA Tmely or DC material in the market in  better condition at a much cheaper price. Remember BC the GA/SA comic book market is always behind the equity markets at a much slower pace...meaning say in the one to three years when we hit a bottom..our bottom WIIL come after the beginning rebound of the equality markets after a acknowledgment by every tom, and harry that the stock/bond/government debt market hit bottom and is on the way up.If you have material in your collection you no longer collect, I would of assumed that in the last 60 days it should traded, sold or consigned if not what are waiting for....future market decline.

Buy stuff what I have?

 Buy material you can make your GA/SA comic book collection to be much better. Whether its a higher upgraded or graded existing copy of a book you already have. But also make a list of what you do not own and need. If a book has been out of your price range...do not give up hope...if you are in the ballpark you might have the opportunity at the right time for the right price to get your ultimate prize of your collection. As far as buying goes...look what happened to our equity markets when people realized this virus is for real..it flash crashed down to 18K and that is a false bottom, this virus is here for a minimum of 18 months if we are extremely lucky.It is going to be the buying timing that is gonna be the key to getting the biggest bang for you buck and right now you wait unless it 10 cents on the dollar or it is a incredibly rare GA/SA book condition wise or overall availability.

 They are saying there are about 2000 comic books shops  in North America before the virus, now we have to admit at 25% were on the edge prior to this crisis ...and that when the smoke clears it is gonna be 1000. We will see a dumping of comic existing stock, that makes the contraction of the 1990's look like Childs  play. Board members you remember what happened before in the 90's but this it its different as circulation has gone down drastically since 1990's and this is a possible extinction event we are taking about depending on the length of this crisis . This is is gonna the greatest dump or all time. A smart long term buyer, should get a number of collectors together and create a fund, and buy those closing stores out at 10 cents on the dollar or less. you would have to have storage ability and transportation like Mycomicshop who is gonna be your biggest competitor in buying bulk. Chuck/Mile High will buy at probably 5 cents on the dollar. Now  the key is to get there BEFORE those guys and cherry pick the 40's50's'60's and top grade early 70's material in a package deal. That would be you safest bet, if you have the balls to take a chance. On the collector indivuial side, don't just look at your local stores inventory especially IF the owner is a collector...approach him and give him the biggest possible want list and say...I have cash, and am willing to purchase in these very uncertain times. Comic book shops are going to have to evolve in order to survive the new world we are coming upon. Lets hope they do.

 

Edited by Mmehdy
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